The Second International 1889-1914

531 Pages·1963·8.768 MB·English

by  G. D. H. Cole

THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL
PART I
A HISTORY OF SOCIALIST THOUGHT: Volume III, Part I
THE SECOND
INTERNATIONAL
1889-1914
BY
G. D. H. C O L E
LONDON
M ACM ILLAN & CO LTD
NEW YORK • ST MARTIN’S PRESS
1963
This book is copyright in all countries which
are signatories to the Berne Convention
First Edition 1956
Reprinted 1960, 1963
MACMILLAN AND COMPANY LIMITED
St. Martin’s Street London WC 2
also Bombay Calcutta Madras Melbourne
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA LIMITED
Toronto
ST MARTIN’S PRESS INC
New York
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
PREFACE
This volume has been difficult to write because of the
extension of Socialism to so many countries and of the
paucity of material for many of them in languages I can
read. I cannot hope to have avoided making many mistakes, or
faulty judgments, though I hope I have got most of the essen­
tials broadly right. Where I could, I sought help and advice
from specialists who were known to me, and their kindly
answers have enabled me to correct a number of errors. My
deepest thanks are due to Mr. H. N. Brailsford, who has again
read through the whole volunie and helped me greatly, and to
Mr. Julius Braunthal, Secretary of the Socialist International,
who has not only read the whole but also loaned me a number
of books and reports which I should have found it very difficult
to consult elsewhere. For loans of books I am also deeply
indebted to Mr. Raymond Postgate, Mr. H. L. Beales, Mr.
C. A. Macartney, Mr. K. J. Scott of New Zealand and Miss
Florence Bradfield. My wife has read some of the chapters
and made valuable comments.
My numerous other debts are for information and help with
particular chapters — especially with data and biographical
particulars. I have to thank Mr. James Joll for help with the
section dealing with the Second International; Mr. J. F.
llorrabin, Mr. Maurice Reckitt, Mrs. A. J. Penty, Professor
Michael Oakeshott, and Mr. John Mahon (Great Britain);
M. Maurice Dommanget and M. Michel Crozier (France);
Mr. Julius Braunthal and Frau Gertrude Magaziner (Austria);
Mr. Thomas Balogh and Mr. K. Szigeti (Hungary); Dr. H. G.
Schenk (Bohemia); M. Charles Barbier, Professor Max Weber,
M r. Hans Handschin, and the Verband Schweiz Konsumvereine
(Switzerland); M. Rene Renard (Belgium), Dr. von Wiessing,
Professor A. C. Riiter and the International Institute for Social
1
Iistory (Holland); Mr. Poul Hansen (Denmark); Mr. Gostar
1
.angenfelt, Baron Palmstierna, and Dr. J. W. Ames (Sweden);
SOCIALIST THOUGHT
Mr. B. Hindahl (Norway); Mr. R. H. Oittinen (Finland);
Signor L. Valiani (Italy); Mr. L. Popov (Bulgaria); Mr. V.
Tunguz (Yugoslavia); Miss Marjorie Plant, Mr. Isaiah Berlin,
Mrs. Kuskova-Prokopovitch, Dr. Rudolf Schlesinger, and
Mr. Henry Collins (Soviet Union); Dr. H. W. Laidler (United
States); Mr. C. A. Fleming, Mr. E. M. Higgins, Mr. N. S.
Lynravn, and Mr. Lloyd Ross (Australia); Professor Iwao
Ayusawa (Japan); His Excellency Senor Francisco A. de Icaza
(Mexico); and Mr. Desmond Crowley, Mr. K. J. Scott, and
Miss E. G. Simpson (New Zealand). Mr. Crowley, in par­
ticular, was kind enough to lend me his own unpublished book
on the Labour movement in New Zealand, which I found very
helpful indeed. Mr. Higgins also lent me unpublished material
about Australia.
Finally, I have to thank two secretaries, Mrs. Rosamund
Broadley and Mrs. Audrey Millar, who have successively borne
the burden of my handwriting and helped me in countless
other ways.
G. D. H. Cole
Oxford
September 1954
CO N TEN TS
PART I
PAGE
Preface V
The Principal Characters ix
Introduction xi
CHAP.
I. T he Second International : Early Years 1
37
II. The Second International : Later Years
(i) 1900. — Paris, (ii) 1904.—Amsterdam,
(iii) 1907. — Stuttgart. (iv) 1910.—
Amsterdam. (v) 1912. — Bale. (vi)
1914.—Vienna and Paris. The Collapse
of the Second International
III. Great Britain — Socialism before the Labour
Party 104
(i) The Beginnings of Fabian Socialism.
(ii) The New Unionism and its Back­
ground. (iii) The Independent Labour
Party, (iv) Robert Blatchford and The
Clarion
IV. Great Britain — the Labour Party and the
Great Unrest 179
(i) The Rise of the Labour Party : Socialists
and Liberals : H. G. Wells (ii) Fabian
Socialism—The Webbs, Shaw and Wallas.
(iii) The Great Unrest: The Labour
Party and its Leaders : Syndicalism and
Guild Socialism
V. Germany : the Revisionist Controversy 249
VI. Germany after the Revisionist Controversy :
Appearance and Reality 297
323
VII. France to 1905
VIII. France after 1905. The Unified Party and
354
the Syndicalists. Jaures and Sorel
vii
SOCIALIST THOUGHT
CHAP. PAGE
IX. Russia to 1905 392
X. The First Russian Revolution 443
XI. Poland — Rosa Luxemburg 486
THE PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS
CHAP. CHAP.
REF. REF.
[I'.NGELS, 1820-1895] 1 — [Cunninghame Graham,
Lavrov, 1823-19002 9 1852-1936]2
W. L iebknecht, 1826-1900 2 5 Stepniak, 1852-1895 9
T olstoi, 1828-1910 — [M alatesta, 1853-1932] 3 —
Longuet, 1833-1901 7, 8 [Bax, 1854-1926]3 —
[Morris, 1834-1896]3 — Kautsky, 1854-1938 2 5> 6
Bebel, 1840-1913 2 5,6 Debs, 1855-1926 2 21
Vaillant, 1840-1915 2 7, 8 Anseele, 1856-1938 16
Malon, 1841-1893 2 7 Bertrand, 1856-1943 16
G reulich, 1842-1925 15 Hardie, 1856-1915 3, 4
IIIyndman, 1842-1921] 2 — Mann, 1856-1941 3, 4
| Kropotkin, 1842-1921] 3 — Shaw, 1856-1950 3. 4
Lapargue, 1842-1911 7 Plekhanov, 1857-1918 2 9, 10
M ikhailovsky, 1842-1904 9 Turati, 1857-1932 19
Ant. Labriola, 1843-1904 19 Zetkin, 1857-1933 6
Brousse, 1844-1912 7 J. A. Hobson, 1858-1940 4
Danielson, 1844-1918 9 B. Webb, 1858-1943 3. 4
Singer, 1844-1911 6 Burns, 1859-1941 2 3, 4
G uesde, 1845-1922 2 7,8 Champion, 1859-1928 3
7,8
Mehring, 1846-1919 5, 6 Jaures, 1859-1914
Nieuwenhuis, 1846-1919 17 Lansbury, 1859-1940 4
SoREL, 1847-1922 8 M illerand, 1859-1943 7
Axelrod, 1850-1925 9 S. Webb, 1859-1947 3, 4
BERNSTEIN, 1850-1932 5 Branting, 1860-1925 18
Icl.ESIAS, 1850-1925 20 PoUGET, 1860-1932 8
Ludebour, 1850-1947 6 Troelstra, 1860-1930 17
VoLLMAR, 1850-1922 5 W. Lane, 1861-1917 23
Hlatchford, 1851-1943 3 Legien, 1861-1920 6
7,8
Zasulich, 1851-1919 2 9 Briand, 1862-1932
V. Adler, 1852-1918 12 David, 1863-1930 6
L ost a, 1852-1910 19 Haase, 1863-1919 6
De Leon, 1852-1914 2 21 Henderson, 1863-1935 4
1 Discussed in Volumes I and II.
2 Also discussed in Volume II. 3 Discussed in Volume II.
ix
SOCIALIST THOUGHT
CHAP. CHAP.
REF. REF.
3 4
Snowden, 1864-1937 . Luxemburg, 1870-1919 6, 11
ScHEIDEMANN, 1865-1939 6 K. L iebknecht,
M acdonald, 1866-1937 3. 4 1871-1919 6, 11
Vandervelde, 1866-1938 16 M errheim, 1871-1925 8
Sun Yat Sen, 1866-1925 26 Bogdanov, 1873-1928 10
4
Wells, 1866-1946 M artov, 1873-1923 9, 10
Pelloutier, 1867-1901 8 Frank, 1874-1914 6
Pilsudski, 1867-1935 11 Griffuelhes, 1874-1923 8
G orki, 1868-1936 10 A. T homas, 1878-1932 8
4
Connolly, 1870-1916 Jouhaux, 1879-1953 8
Krasin, 1870-1926 10 T rotsky, 1879-1940 9, 10
Lenin, 1870-1924 9, 10 O. Bauer, 1881-1935 12
x
IN TRO D U CTIO N
IN the second volume of this study I described the develop­
ment of Socialist thought and action from the middle of the
nineteenth century — that is, from the defeat of the European
Revolutions of 1848 — to about 1890 — by which time Social
Democratic or Labour Parties had been established in most
European and in a number of non-European countries. The
present volume carries on the record from the foundation of
the Second International in 1889 — the centenary year of the
great French Revolution — to the outbreak of European War
in August 1914. During the period covered by Volume II the
struggle between Marxism and Anarchism furnished the central
theme. That struggle had not ended in 1889 ; but it had
ceased to occupy the centre of the stage, and both combatants
had undergone a considerable transformation. Marxism had
been reshaped throughout Western Europe as Social Democracy
and had become organised in a series of national parties which
were either active in the electoral field and seeking to build up
their parliamentary strength by constitutional means or, where
the franchise was too narrow to give them a chance of electoral
success, were agitating and demonstrating for manhood, or
even for adult, suffrage in order to be able to follow the same
course. Anarchism meanwhile was being deeply affected by
the growth of Trade Unionism, and was being reincarnated in
part as what came to be called first Revolutionary Syndicalism
and later simply Syndicalism, on the basis of an exaltation of
the role of Direct Action, with the general strike as a weapon,
as against Parliamentary action. The general strike was also
proposed, and used, by Social Democrats as a weapon for the
enforcement of franchise reform ; and in Russia it was the form
in which the Revolution of 1905 actually began. But the general
strike as used in Austria and Belgium as a means of extorting
franchise reform was something quite different from the ‘ social ’
general strike of the Anarchists and Syndicalists and of the
Russian revolutionaries : it was meant, not to usher in violent